Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Journal Seven

Alex Hustak

English 1109 Mon/Wed 10:30

October 19, 2016

Journal Seven: R.U.F. Revolutionary United Front

The Revolutionary United
Front, also known as the R.U.F. was a rebel army that fought in a ten year war
in Sierra Leone. The war started in 1991 and had ended in 2002 which the R.U.F.
had lost. After the war, the R.U.F. was made into a political party which had
only lasted for almost five years. The R.U.F. was founded by Foday Sankoh, and
the entire Mende tribe. Many people living in Sierra Leone favored the R.U.F.
at first, with the goals to prevent an “elite Freetown” which was considered
corrupt to the civilians. Later, the R.U.F. started to make a reputation for
itself for its cruelty toward civilians. They would cut off limbs to intimidate
and to spread terror among the population of Sierra Leone. They also recruited children
soldiers which is another reason they had such a bad reputation.

Foday Sankoh promised
that he would spread the wealth of the diamond revenue gained from mines but
then later would break that promise and ended up arming himself with weapons so
the R.U.F. could protect the mines containing the diamonds. During the civil
war, they had recruited around 11,000 child soldiers to participate, most of
these children were used to attack villages or guard the mines. The R.U.F.
would make some of the children kill their parents once they joined. Some of the
children would have “RUF” carved into their chest, the kids would also have
cocaine rubbed into open cuts to make them fearless.

After losing the war,
the R.U.F. was made into a political party which would later merge with the “All
People’s Congress”